RE: SQL Server 2000 STD vs RAID performance

From: Yuan Shao (v-yshao_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 04/02/04 

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2004 01:30:07 GMT

Hi Guillaume,

It depends on your requirements. RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are typically used
with SQL Server.

A hardware disk array improves I/O performance because I/O functions, such
as striping and mirroring, are handled efficiently in firmware. Conversely,
an operating system-based RAID offers lower cost but consumes processor
cycles. When cost is a consideration and redundancy and high performance
are required, Microsoft Windows? NT? stripe sets with parity or Windows
2000 RAID-5 volumes are a good solution.

Data striping (RAID 0) is the RAID configuration with the highest
performance, but if one disk fails, all the data on the stripe set becomes
inaccessible. A common installation technique for relational database
management systems is to configure the database on a RAID 0 drive and then
place the transaction log on a mirrored drive (RAID 1). You can get the
best disk I/O performance for the database and maintain data recoverability
(assuming you perform regular database backups) through a mirrored
transaction log.

If data must be quickly recoverable, consider mirroring the transaction log
and placing the database on a RAID 5 disk. RAID 5 provides redundancy of
all data on the array, allowing a single disk to fail and be replaced in
most cases without system downtime. RAID 5 offers lower performance than
RAID 0 or RAID 1 but higher reliability and faster recovery.

For more information, please refer to the following article:
Comparing Different Implementations of RAID Levels
http://doc.ddart.net/mssql/sql2000/html/optimsql/odp_tun_1_79pv.htm

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Michael Shao
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

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